SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD AND REVISIT INTENTION FOR TEA TOURISM DESTINATIONS: AN APPLICATION OF THEORY OF REASONED ACTION

Abstract

The current study aims to investigate the revisit intention of tea tourists, and its determinants, including attitude, subjective norm, and tea tourism satisfaction. The sample included 409 tea tourists with experiences of visiting the tea tourism destinations. Research instruments were developed from the related literature. The structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data for the study. The results showed that tea tourism satisfaction, subjective norm and attitude are influential to revisit intention of the tea tourists. Additionally, sustainable livelihood has a positive significant effect on tea tourism satisfaction. Based on theory of reasoned action and sustainable livelihood approach, the study extended the application of the theory of reasoned action by focusing on the revisit intention, rather than the intention to visit. In addition, prior to this study, the concept of sustainable livelihood approach has not been used in the context of tea tourism. The findings of the research help tea tourism destination managers develop the guidelines to increase the satisfaction of the tea tourists and to increase the revisit intention. Moreover, this research also found that promoting sustainable livelihood of the tea community can be an effective strategy to attract and satisfy the tea tourists. Past research in tea tourism has not applied the theory of reasoned action for revisit intention and this study used the satisfaction factor as one of the predictors for revisit intention. In other words, the current research expanded the usage of the theory of reasoned action. Additionally, past research did not investigate the concept of sustainable livelihood of tea tourism destinations where tea plantation is usually located in the local community, supported by the local peoples and their ways of life.